Chapter 42

In the Tower, the methods to climb up a floor can be largely divided into three.

The first is to find the stairs to the next floor.

This method is mainly used when emphasizing the element of climbing.

Climbing is a journey of finding the path and an adventure departing towards a goal.

The first thing to do is to find the hidden stairs on that floor.

Since the stairs are all hidden in different locations, there’s the effort of having to find them one by one.

When choosing the climbing route, skills that can view the overall terrain, like a mini-map, can be considered essential.

This skill must be learned from an NPC, not from a skill book.

You can learn that skill at the Association located next to the Tower.

Entering the Association, you can see a space set up like bank counters.

Various tasks can be performed there.

The guild-related system, which is not currently implemented, can also be processed here.

You can also obtain information needed for class advancement. Since it functions like an information dealer, if you have money, you can get a lot of useful information.

Under the motto of creating a healthy competition culture, a PvP function was also added.

In PvP, even if you die, you don’t really die. Think of it as fighting in a virtual space.

Later, we plan to host events like tournaments to build proficiency in player versus player combat.

And the owner of this Association was Berg.

She was performing these duties under the name of the Human Resources Department.

Going back to the original story, the stairs are a kind of trial.

It doesn’t end just by finding them.

You have to keep climbing stairs that might continue indefinitely.

Dealing with monsters rushing in from both sides was an additional challenge.

With the anxiety of possibly falling if you misstep slightly, monsters attacking from all directions, and stairs that continue endlessly, you have to keep climbing.

But still, you must move forward.

Neither small pebbles nor brushing winds could stop their steps. They shouldn’t stop.

The end of these stairs may be unknown, but each place their feet touch will become engraved with meaning.

The Tower standing as if piercing the sky.

Nothing in the sky can swallow its top.

That place, seemingly reachable yet unreachable, was the eternal seat of dreams.

Climbing the stairs was a journey and a challenge to move towards dreams, cutting through numerous uncertainties.

“Actually, the meaning of climbing is often located below, not above.”

More precisely, there’s meaning in the footprints engraved on the stone steps one has tread upon.

It’s similar to mountain climbing. What you look at after climbing is not above, but below.

You’re looking at scenery you wouldn’t have seen if you hadn’t climbed.

Climbing had such meaning.

The isolation felt while climbing stairs, the reflection of looking back on the path traveled and exploring one’s inner self, the spiritual ascension felt as you get closer to the sky.

The act of climbing was a complex combination of all these.

Besides using stairs, there were other methods too.

The second method is fighting monsters.

This method was for those who emphasize struggle more than climbing.

Other methods also involve fighting monsters, but the difficulty is different.

Basically, if you choose this route, you get debuffs called Attraction and Provocation.

As can be inferred from the name, they have the effect of drawing monsters together.

The distinction between non-aggression and aggression becomes meaningless.

The concept of non-aggression itself disappears, and monsters around indiscriminately rush in.

You can go up to the next floor by killing a set number of monsters or surviving for a set time.

The time and quantity are announced, but they don’t show how much progress has been made.

“It’s no different from an arena.”

The Tower and an arena are structures that look completely different on the surface, but they share deep commonalities in symbolic aspects.

Both particularly reveal the inner mind, desires, and various aspects of human life nakedly.

The Tower is a space conscious of external gazes. Wasn’t its very existence for the purpose of showing off in the first place?

Entities called Constellations are also watching the challenge.

An arena is also essentially a place that needs audience evaluation and interest. The struggle within it is a fight to protect one’s life, but from the outside, it’s merely a performance.

Both share the commonality of being a place of evaluation and recognition that reveals oneself to the outside world.

“The arena just has stronger and more nakedly revealed base desires. It might not be much different from the Tower.”

I sipped coffee with a self-deprecating smile.

“That might be true.”

Moon said, sipping tea.

Moon, who had taken over the role of Tower administrator alone, had definitely changed from before.

She became a bit calmer and more mature.

If being an adult means being able to take responsibility for one’s own affairs, she could now be said to have finally become an adult.

She was trying various things, having escaped from the shadow of being a god.

“The arena and the Tower also share the commonality of being places where glory and tragedy coexist.”

Moon adds her own interpretation.

I silently nodded, listening to her words.

“The top of the Tower could be said to symbolize glory. But at the same time, it contains the risk of falling. By itself, the Tower is a paradoxical entity having both glory and tragedy in one place.”

Moon continued with a somewhat bitter smile.

“The arena is the same. The victor enjoys cheers and glory, but the loser faces a shameful death. The arena, where the sweetness of victory and the harshness of defeat coexist, is also a paradoxical entity.”

I can see two eyes deeply immersed.

She might be projecting herself in them.

Moon is an unstable entity.

The gentle yet cold moon.

Rising as if to illuminate the world, but only able to reveal its existence when hidden in darkness.

The moon always changes. It disappears one piece, two pieces, and then returns to a complete circle. It contains deficiency within completeness.

It’s a symbol of hope but can also be the beginning of anxiety.

The moon was both a path and a maze.

Paradoxes and contradictions weren’t always bad. They might feel negative because they reveal uncomfortable truths.

But they enable multidimensional thinking beyond simple dichotomous thinking.

For us living in the three-dimensional world of life, not the flat world of novels, paradoxes enable more abundant thoughts.

So perhaps comfort isn’t necessary.

“The last method is to follow the story present on each floor.”

Every 10 floors, there are main stories that penetrate the big flow.

It’s a method of following that flow.

This is the method chosen by those who focus on the concept of narrative in the Tower.

Unlike other methods, they operate in a large space where a total of 10 floors are integrated.

Players are allocated different spaces in the Tower for each individual. I don’t know how hard it was to implement this method.

It’s an experience I never want to repeat. Even now, thinking about that time makes me shudder.

This method, unlike others, emphasizes exchange. It values exchange and empathy with others.

The fairy tale based on the main story is a world of dreams and imagination.

It makes you escape reality and experience a new world. The fantastic elements in the story make you dream.

That’s not to say it only looks at unreality and just dreams.

The essence of fairy tales was to unfold realistic lessons through unrealistic characters.

It can be said to be the intersection of imagination and reality.

Although it may be slower compared to other methods, it has the advantage of forming a more solid narrative.

After all, since imagination and reality coexist, it’s easier to absorb concepts.

Most fairy tales begin with an adventure.

Protagonists in fairy tales typically go on adventures, overcome trials, and experience a process of growth.

Since it matches well with the Tower, which gains achievement through journey and adventure, this was also a concept that could help growth.

Constellations also have preferences for the three methods.

After all, they would provide more support to those who choose the path they prefer.

Not only because they like it but also because it’s what they know better.

Among them, I prefer following the flow of the main story.

After all, the end of a fairy tale is a happy ending.

And those who go on adventures end by returning home.

“I wish I could say ‘come back safely’ when sending them off and welcome them back saying ‘I’ve waited a long time’ when they return.”

“It will be like that.”

“It should be. Not that it can be, but that it should be made to be.”

Not ending as a possibility, but being confirmed in the name of destiny.